Sessions said comparisons of those centers to the Nazis camps wasn’t fair because the Justice Department was simply trying to deter people from crossing the border, not keep them in the U.S.

“Well, it’s a real exaggeration, of course. In Nazi Germany, they were keeping the Jews from leaving the country,” Sessions said. “We need to think it through, be rational and thoughtful about it. We want to allow asylum for people who qualify for it, but people who want economic migration for their personal financial benefit, and what they think is their families’ benefit, is not a basis for a claim of asylum.”

Sessions stressed that the children detained by the government were cared for and “not being abused” in any way.